These days, the most prepared players turn to video with the
hope of gaining every advantage they can it comes to facing opposing pitchers.
Chase Utley is the king of that in the Phillies clubhouse.

Back when Ryne Sandberg played, it took a lot more energy to
keep tabs on a starting pitcher. And Sandberg did it without the help of video.

The Hall of Famer kept a small notebook in the dugout with
him and during games he made notations about the pitcher he just faced.

“As I’d face somebody new, I wrote
down what he had first of all,” Sandberg said. “What his velocity was, his
action on the fastball. I think that’s the first thing that hitters look at, is
what’s the velocity of the fastball and what’s the action on the balls. Is it
cutting away? Is it tailing in? Is it both? Because that’s just a reaction and
less time to see and think about it. That’s the first thing, and then what his
breaking pitches are and what his out pitch is for a strikeout.”

Much of what Utley has down
throughout his career mimics what Sandberg did during his playing days. It’s
something Sandberg likes and encourages, and he’s seen it rub off of some other
hitters.

“I’ve seen more guys in there doing that,” Sandberg said. “With
his information, you also see him sharing some of that with the younger players
during the game. Any time there’s a pitching change, I’ll see a bunch of guys
who gravitate toward Chase to see what the guy throws and to see what approach
they need. That’s very good in-game stuff that is utilized by the younger
players and veteran players are very happy about sharing that and talking about
that. I’ve seen better swings and results from that situation.”

Including from Utley, who is hitting .316 (18-for-57) in his
last 16 games. During that stretch, he has hit four doubles, one triple, has
eight RBIs and has scored seven times.

Sandberg is most encouraged by the way Utley is spraying the
ball all over the field with regularity.

“He’s gotten a few more hits to
left-center field,” Sandberg said. “He’s gotten some hits on the left field
line. I think that’s key for him with those pitches, to take them the other
way. It also prevents the defense from playing a complete pull shift. I’ve seen
the batting average go up in the last three weeks. A lot of it is because of
that.”

Utley was hitting .268 after going
0-for-4 on Aug. 27. Since then, he’s raised his batting average six points and
is hitting .274 on the season.

LOOKING AHEAD

Whether Sandberg has the “interim” tag taken off his
title next year and is given the chance to managed this team for time in 2014,
he’s expecting he’ll have to provide the organization with his own evaluations
of the players he saw this season, especially while he was in charge.

He’s already has some ideas of how some of those evaluations
might look.

“In some ways maybe there are less question marks than a
month and a half, two months ago with some positions on the team,” he said. “Maybe
primarily in the bullpen and that’s all good. Some guys have come a long way.
Maybe some guys have earned some jobs next year going into spring training.
That’s all good. It really gives the organization a better feel and what they
really need to concentrate on as far as the front office as far as the
necessary pieces that either aren’t here or that they need to go and get.”

You've got to figure one of those bullpen guys high on Sandberg's list is B.J. Rosenberg. He's the owner of a 12 1/3 scoreless innings streak that spans 14 games, a stretch during which he's held opponents to a .103 (4-for-39) batting average against. Of the 29 outs he's recorded in his last 9 2/3 innings (since Aug. 22), 11 have come via strikeout.

"Oh,
yeah. I’m well aware of that," Sandberg added.

Sandberg also complimented some of the things he saw from Ben Revere after April and expected a healthy Ryan Howard next year could hit 30 home runs.